Whiteboard desk

Description: As I’m an avid fan of ‘post your desk topics/workspace forum threads’, I thought it might be nice to share the IKEA hack in use in my own workspace.

Last year I decided to refurbish my home office, to create a space that enables me to do my work in the most optimum way and of course that is pleasing to the eye. The first thing that came to mind was a whiteboard, I bought a really big one. However its 5 to 6 feet away from my desk and I realized I didn’t use it enough due to ‘distance’.

Sitting behind the desk while on the phone or just using my computer I found myself scribbling on pieces of paper instead of getting out of my chair and walk over to the whiteboard. So I needed a small whiteboard I could grab and use at my desk, sounds like a plan however I like minimalistic designs where as much ‘clutter’ is removed as possible. I needed to come up with something different, enter the whiteboard desk!

Instead of buying a mini whiteboard that needs to be stored when not using it I decided to visit my local IKEA shop and see what’s available. While looking at tables, I noticed that the IKEA kitchen department sells customized tabletops (PERSONLIG). Each dimension is possible in almost every shape. I decided to order a 7 feet by 3 feet high-gloss white tabletop (1104) with a 1.49″ stainless steel edge.

I chose to order the 1.49 inch thick tabletop as I need to have a desktop that is sturdy enough to hold the weight of a 27″ iMac and a 30″ TFT screen. The stainless steel edge fits snug around the desk and covers each side; it doesn’t stick out and is not noticeable when typing. It looks fantastic however the downside is the price, it was more expensive than the table top itself. The alternative is a laminate cover that looks like it will be worn out easily, while spending most of my time behind my desk I thought it was worth the investment of buying the real thing.

The high-gloss finish acts as the whiteboard surface and works like a charm with any whiteboard markers. I left notes on my desk for multiple days and could be removed without leaving a trace.

The tabletop rest on two IKEA Vika Moliden stands, due to the cast of the shadow its very difficult to notice that the color of the stands do not exactly match the color as the stainless steel edge.

The whiteboard desk is just an awesome piece of furniture, when on the phone I can take notes on my desk while immediately drawing diagrams next to it. It saves a lot of trees, saves a lot of time scrambling for a piece of paper and a pen and decreases clutter on the desk. The only thing you need to do when building a whiteboard desk is to banish all permanent markers in your office.

Related Posts

The Author

Jules IKEAHacker "I am Jules, the engine behind IKEAHackers and the one who keeps this site up and running. My mission is to capture all the wonderful, inspiring, clever hacks and ideas for our much loved IKEA items".

I went to the Ikea in my area (NJ-RT17) and the kitchen department said they don’t do custom cuts of all materials (and those that can be must be at least 6‘）. Can you explain exactly who/where you made the request? I’m dying to employ this hack!

personlig means “personal” in swedish and as far I can tell, it seems it’s just a name in the IKEA family of products. So if you want this, just head into your IKEA and go to the kitchen section and ask them about personlig. I’m tempted to say it may be what the swedes call “custom” (i.e personalized, etc.)

I Like this idea, but i see one big problem coming at ya. If u decide to leave notes on the table and start typing or something that forces u to put ur hands/arms on the desk, u will have all the notes on ur shirts. Do u have some good stragtgy to avoid that?

just FYI, should you accidentally use a permanent marker on your desk, scribble completely over it with a whiteboard marker and wipe immedately. The solvents in the erasable pen dissolves the permanent pen and it all comes off

Explore Archives

COPYRIGHT @ 2014 IKEAHACKERS.NET | IKEA is a registered trademark of Inter-IKEA Systems B.V. | IKEAhackers is a fan-run website and is NOT related to IKEA, IKEA.com or the IKEA Group. Any and all links to IKEA.com are presented for reader convenience only and do not imply IKEA's approval of this website and/or the modification of its products. IKEA and IKEAhackers.net are not liable for any product failure, injury or damage resulting from the application of hacks featured on this site.